BOOK VI. XXXV. 190-193 



ashamed of their black colour and smear themselves 

 all over ^vith red clay. On the African side are thc 

 Medimni, and then a Nomad tribe that Hves on the 

 milk of the dog-faced baboon, the Alabi, and the 

 Syrbotae who are said to be 12 ft. high. Aristocreon 

 reports that on the Lybian side five days' journey 

 from Meroe is the town of Tolles, and twelve days 

 beyond it another town, Aesar,belonging to Egyptians 

 who fled to escape from Psammetichus (they are said 

 to have been Hving there for 300 years), and that the 

 town of Diaron on the Arabian side opposite belongs 

 to them. To the town which Aristocrates calls Aesar 

 Bion gives the name of Sapes, which he says means 

 that the inhabitants are strangers ; their chief city 

 is Sembobitis, situated on an island, and they have 

 a third town named Sinat, in Arabia. Between 

 the mountains and the Nile are the Simbarri, the 

 Palunges and, on the actual mountains, the numerous 

 tribes of Asachae, who are said to be five days' 

 journey from the sea ; they live by hunting elephants. 

 An island in the Nile, belonging to the Sembritae, is 

 governed by a queen. Eight days' journey from this 

 island are the Nubian Ethiopians, whose to%vn 

 Tenupsis is situated on the Nile, and the Sesambri, in 

 whose country all the four-footed animals, even the 

 elephants, have no ears. On the African side are the 

 Ptonebari ; the Ptoemphani, who have a dog for a 

 king and dinne his commands from his movements ; 

 the HariLsbi, whose town is situated a long distance 

 away from the Nile ; and afterwards the Archisarmi, 

 Phalliges, Marigarri and Chasamari. Bion also 

 reports other towns situated on islands : after 

 Sembobitis, in the direction of Meroe, the whole 

 distance being twenty days' journey, on the first 



481 



